A group of five South Korean climbers and four Nepali climbers and porters has been reported missing after a storm hit a camp on a Himalayan peak in west Nepal, officials said on Saturday.

Tourism Ministry official Rameshwar Niraula said the storm struck the group at the base camp of Mount Gurja, a mountain of 7,913 metres (25,961 feet), on Saturday. The official said the camp had been destroyed.

Wangchu Sherpa, head of the Trekking Camp Nepal agency that provided local support to the South Korean team, said the camp had been devastated, citing the pilot of a rescue helicopter that was sent to look for the missing group on Saturday morning.

Niraula didn't disclose the names of the missing climbers and porters and gave no further details of the incident, which involves the largest group to be hit by a climbing accident in Nepal in two years.

After three weeks meandering around the Atlantic Ocean, Leslie is expected to finally crash ashore near Lisbon on Sunday, marking the third time a storm that powerful has made it to the Iberian Peninsula in the past 176 years.

Storm warnings cover Portugal, according to the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere. There is a 70-to-80 percent chance tropical storm winds will reach Lisbon by about midday on Saturday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The storm will make landfall early Sunday, local time.

"Leslie is expected to bring near hurricane-strength winds on Saturday to portions of Portugal as a powerful post-tropical cyclone," Dan Brown, a senior hurricane specialist at the Hurricane Center, wrote in an analysis. "Tropical-storm strength winds are also likely to affect portions of western Spain."

In addition, Leslie will bring as much as 4 inches (10 centimeters) of rain.

"Whether it will be technically a tropical cyclone or not, it is going to be a big storm for them," said Jeff Masters, co-founder of Weather Underground, an IBM company. "It's kind of unprecedented for them."

In 1842, Spain was hit by a large storm that scientists concluded was a hurricane in a 2008 study. On Oct. 11, 2005, Vince made landfall near Huelva, Spain, about 383 miles southwest of Madrid, as a tropical depression with sustained winds of 35 miles per hour.

Hurricane Michael wiped out over a billion dollars, just after Florence did the same. Christian looks at how Philippines is frantically importing rice after Typhoon Mangkhut, how insurance actuaries are having to adjust to climate disasters, even as pizzas are shrinking and new studies declare that "meat" must soon be a thing of the past in order to "save the climate."

Authorities in India's eastern state of Odisha evacuated 300,000 people, suspended operations at a major port and cancelled many trains and flights on Wednesday as a severe cyclone in the Bay of Bengal gains strength and barrels towards the state.

Authorities in India's eastern state of Odisha evacuated 300,000 people, suspended operations at a major port and cancelled many trains and flights on Wednesday as a severe cyclone in the Bay of Bengal gains strength and barrels towards the state.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) rated Titli as a "very severe cyclonic storm" that could pack gusts of up to 165 kph by the time it makes landfall early on Thursday.

The IMD warned the cyclone is likely to uproot trees, power and communication poles, destroy coastal houses with thatched roofs, and damage roads, crops and plantations. It also issued a storm surge warning and said it expects low-lying areas in Odisha and the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh to be inundated.

BJP's State General Secretary Bhrugu Baxipatra made sensational claims, which was later verified by the reporter of a TV Channel that at least 17 people have been killed in Gajapati district during Cyclone Titli.

Hundreds of migratory birds have also killed according to the Deccan Herald on the 12th of October:

Hundreds of migratory birds died at the Telineelapuram bird sanctuary of Srikakulam district due to the heavy rain and gusty winds that Cyclone Titli brought with it on Thursday.

Telineelapuram, situated 65 km from Srikakulam town, was declared a bird sanctuary long ago. The village comprises several creeks covered by different types of trees.

Forest officials said that the migratory birds such as painted storks, adjutant storks and spot-billed pelicans travel more than 6,000 km to this sanctuary from Siberia in Russia, Germany, Australia and Hungary The migration happens mostly in October.

The birds stay in the sanctuary for seven months during which they lay eggs and hatch them. They leave the sanctuary between March and May along with their new-born babies.

Sources said that over 200 migratory birds were killed and over 1,000 birds lost their nests as some trees fell under the impact of the storm.

Hurricane Michael made landfall along the Florida Panhandle, now it moves across croplands sitting ready to harvest across the S.E USA. Property damage is vast along coastal areas, but what about 70% losses of anything in the fields or orchards?

With Hurricane Michael bearing down on the Florida panhandle and Hurricane Leslie spinning toward Europe, corporate media will have you believe its the first time this is happening, but if we look back to the 1880's forward we find repeats in numbers and intensity of hurricanes and typhoons.

Florida residents are scrambling to flee their homes as Hurricane Michael bears down on the state. If it doesn't weaken before making landfall, Michael will be the strongest hurricane to batter Florida since 1851.

"No long-time residents of this area will have seen a hurricane this strong before," said the Weather Channel. No category-4 hurricane has ever made landfall along Florida's panhandle, and Michael is set to bring winds of up to 145mph and waves of up to 13 feet, enough to rip roofs off houses, and bury them beneath the storm surge.

As well as being the strongest storm to hit Florida in over a century, Michael is poised to be the strongest to hit the US mainland since the extremely active hurricane season of 2004.

Comment: We don't want to alarm anyone but this went from Category 1 to 4 in under 12 hours.

Michael has emerged from nowhere to become the third-strongest storm (pressure-wise) to ever make landfall in the US...

Update 14:30 EST

Footage of landfall is starting to come in. This looks like it's gonna be a doozy.

A man and a child were killed when trees fell on their homes on Wednesday, as Hurricane Michael plowed into Alabama and Georgia, leaving behind a path of destruction in the Panhandle.

Hurricane Michael, which made landfall near Mexico Beach, Florida as a category-4 storm on Wednesday afternoon, has ravaged the Florida Panhandle with gusting winds of up to 155mph (250kph).

A man was killed when a tree fell on his home in Gadsden County, Florida, and a child died in a similar accident in Seminole County, Georgia, local officials confirmed.

Photos and videos show homes in the town of some 2,000 residents shredded to pieces.

Panama City, some 20 miles (32km) from Mexico Beach, has borne the brunt of the storm, as it downed trees, knocked power lines, tore off roofs, and splintered homes, some of which have collapsed.

The storm, the most severe to hit the Florida Panhandle in a century, brought flash floods, inundating roads and homes.

More than 300,000 homes and businesses have been affected by power outages in Florida.

At least one person was killed in the storm. The man was trapped by a fallen tree at his home in Greensboro, Gladsden County, police reported. Rescue crews that were responding to the emergency failed to arrive in time to pull him out alive due to roads being blocked by fallen power lines.

As the hurricane, downgraded to a category-3 storm, moved into Alabama and Georgia on Wednesday evening, Florida Governor Rick Scott urged locals to stay inside and off the roads, as rescuers were on their way to the most heavy-hit areas. The state authorities are still assessing the damage.

Residents of Georgia and Alabama have been hit with power blackouts after the hurricane crossed into the southeastern part of the states. Some 125,000 homes were left without power in Georgia and over 52,000 homes in Alabama as of Wednesday evening.

The storm continued on its destructive path, bringing heavy rains and tearing down trees. As it moved further inland, its crushing force subsided.

By 8pm, Michael was weakened to category-1 storm, with wind gusts reaching 90mph (144kph), the National Hurricane Center reported.

Earlier in the day, US President Donald Trump stirred some controversy by refusing to cancel his MAGA rally in Erie, Pennsylvania due to the storm.

"I cannot disappoint the thousands of people that are there - and the thousands that are going," he tweeted.

According to the Guardian, Michael's 155mph winds at landfall were only 5mph short of category 5 status, making it the strongest storm to strike the United States since Hurricane Andrew ravaged southern Florida in 1992.

At least six people have been killed by Hurricane Michael and more can be expected after Hurricane Michael ripped through the US southeast, devastating communities in the Florida panhandle in a tempest that authorities say is the worst the region has seen since records began in 1851.

An 11-year-old girl from Georgia is among those who died in the storm, which levelled neighbourhoods in Mexico Beach and Panama Beach in Florida.

Michael has caused widespread damage, leaving more than 700,000 homes and businesses without power across three states and even blowing a train off its tracks in Florida with winds up to 155mph, according to reports. It has been estimated that more than 300,000 homes and businesses have been destroyed or badly damaged in Florida alone.

"So many lives have been changed forever. So many families have lost everything. Homes are gone. Businesses are gone," Florida Governor Rick Scott said shortly before a planned tour of the devastation on Thursday. "Roads and infrastructure along the storm's path have been destroyed. This hurricane was an absolute monster, and the damage left in its wake has yet to be fully understood".

Michael, which made landfall as a Category 4 storm, was downgraded into a tropical storm on Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Centre (NHC). The storm still carries with it the potential for major damage and loss of life, with the NHC saying that ongoing flash floods and dangerous winds should be watched for in the Carolinas and southern Virginia.

After daylight on Thursday residents of north Florida would just be beginning to take stock of the enormity of the disaster.

Damage in Panama City near where Michael came ashore on Wednesday afternoon was so extensive that broken and uprooted trees and downed power lines lay nearly everywhere.

The storm was due to began to pass over the Carolinas on Thursday, just weeks after the states were battered by Hurricane Florence's torrential rain. The storm is projected to begin moving eastward on Friday and then make its way out to sea in the Atlantic.

During a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump promised to visit Florida soon. He said that "we will always pull through" and offered his "thoughts and prayers" to those affected by thew storm. On Thursday, he described the hurricane as one of the worst the US had encountered.

"This one went very quickly, but its tremendous destruction in the areas and the path that it chose is incredible for destruction," Mr Trump said on Thursday at the White House. "We have not seen destruction like that in a long time".

Hurricane Michael has wreaked havoc at Tyndall Air Force Base near Panama City, Florida, uprooting trees, tearing off roofs, and wiping out the flight line and marina. It's still unknown how long repairs will take.

The base, located just 19km (12 miles) east of Panama City, suffered a "direct hit" from the hurricane, which made its landfall on Florida's Panhandle on Wednesday, shredding nearby Mexico Beach and bringing devastation to Panama City.

Tyndall has not been spared the full force of the hurricane either. Aerial footage of the base shows snapped trees, dozens of trailers scattered across parking lots and severe damage to homes, with gaping holes where roof shingles used to be.

Wind gusts have ripped siding from aircraft hangars. "Widespread catastrophic damage" was caused to almost every structure, the base commandment said on Facebook.

"The flight line is devastated. Every building has severe damage. Many buildings are a complete loss. The hurricane completely destroyed the Tyndall marina. The structures and docks are gone."

No casualties or injuries have been reported at the base, which was empty at the time the storm smashed into Florida. The majority of the aircraft waited out the storm in Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio and Carswell Field in Texas.

It is unclear when servicemen and families that were driven from the base can return, the commandment admitted.

"I know that you are eager to return. I ask you to be patient and try to focus on taking care of your families and each other. We can rebuild our base, but we can't rebuild any of you," Laidlaw said.

NHC forecasters say that this motion is expected to continue with an increase in forward speed through tonight.

A turn toward the east-northeast and an even faster forward speed are expected on Friday.

On the NHC forecast track, the center of Michael will move through eastern Georgia into central South Carolina this morning, then moves across portions of central and eastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia into the Atlantic Ocean by late tonight or early Friday.